N.J. educators unsure how to improve 4th-grade boys' reading scores on state test

A fourth-grade student raises his hand during class at a school in Essex County in this 2011 file photo.Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger

Young boys across the country have trailed their female classmates in language arts proficiency for at least four decades, but over the last four years, the gender gap in New Jersey’s public schools has widened, test results released last week show.

Between 2009 and 2012, the percentage of fourth-grade girls who passed the reading section of the annual NJ ASK test held at about 65 percent, while the share of boys who passed declined by 8.1 percentage points.

This year, nearly half of the state’s fourth-grade boys failed the test.

Male students’ declining reading proficiency is evident to some degree in every grade and in every demographic subgroup, according to superintendents, who said they don’t understand why this is happening or how to solve the problem.

Even as the language arts gap has grown, the disparity in math scores has almost disappeared. For decades, male students outscored their female counterparts, but girls have now caught up.

"The stereotypes don’t hold true anymore," said North Brunswick Superintendent Brian Zychowski. "Our girls are scoring just as high as boys in math, but the boys are struggling with reading. I don’t know why. I can’t explain it."

The gender gap in language arts shrinks as students get older. This year, the difference between eighth-grade male and female students’ performance on the NJ ASK reading section was 6.2 points — half the difference between male and female fourth-graders.

Given each year, NJ ASK, or New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge, tests students in reading and math in grades 3-8. Students in fourth and eighth grades are also tested in science.

Male students read plenty, said Michael Smith, a Temple University College of Education professor, but the types of material boys tend to enjoy — comic books, humorous novels and sports magazines — don’t prepare them well for state tests.

"Boys like to read texts that will have an immediate payoff in conversation with friends," Smith said. "They like books that make them laugh and articles about last night’s hockey game. Test prep materials can be boring."

Smith said the best way to prepare boys for state tests is by giving them rich, challenging lessons that have no direct link to test material that many boys may find boring.

"It is our obligation as educators to prepare kids to be successful for the future, including passing high-stakes tests," Smith said. "But if we try to do that directly, we will almost surely fail because doing so does not foster student engagement."

The test scores are becoming increasingly important for teachers as well as students. Starting next year, teachers whose students get low scores on the annual state tests may lose their tenure and their jobs under a tenure reform law signed by Christie in August.

Overall, the percentage of students in grades 3 through 8 who passed the NJ ASK test’s language arts section this year decreased by 1 percentage point, to 65.89 percent. The percentage of students who passed the test’s math section this year decreased less than 1 percentage point to 75.34 percent.

Educators said those declines are statistically insignificant.

Though state Department of Education officials are aware of the gap between male and female student proficiency in reading, they have no plans to address male student achievement specifically, said Barbara Morgan, a department spokeswoman.

"We want all of our students to retain proficient scores in math and language arts at all grade levels," Morgan said.

Aaron Pallas, a professor of sociology and education at Columbia University’s Teachers College, said the shift in fourth-grade males’ reading performance in recent years may not be cause for concern, but certainly indicates a need for further analysis.

"If this was not something New Jersey had been worrying about or viewing as a policy priority before, the concern and the need to investigate further has now emerged," Pallas said. "Knowing whether this shift is caused by school policies, test prep or factors outside the school will require much more analysis."